All of us experience adversity every day. If we did not adapt to the obstacles that are in front of us through creative thought or take action to make a difference, we get stuck complaining about the problem.
Some of our friends and family know that staying on top of a child’s autistics behavior is a chore in itself. Trying to counter or prepare is like living in an episode of Survivor “outwit, outlast, outplay” your opponent. Lately, My son has been obsessed with picking at the textured walls. This has resulted in a bit of a mess. This is then compounded with his constant need to reflux or snot on the walls by his bed that he then spreads around for nightly entertainment. The chore of cleaning the walls off with soap and water has wore off the paint and is also difficult to clean after the contents have adhered to the wall…better than superglue sometimes. Therefore, our countermove for this behavior was to construct a barrier that will hopefully stay adhered to the wall and be easy to wipe off. We used a fiberglass panel by Crane Composites (Lowe’s has these white ones in stock). This is used in many commercial bathrooms and restaurants to allow for easy cleaning and can get wet without causing an issue with the plaster walls.
We completed this project a year ago, now my son is obsessing and doing injury to himself, where he will paint the wall with the blood from his wounds. These wounds are typically from scratching his skin open until it bleeds.
We tried to address this by placing a camera in his room to monitor his behavior so I could walk in promptly to redirect his behavior back to bed. Unfortunately, redirecting him to fall back asleep is not a simple task because he is similar to a pit-bull with the taste of blood; he will not let go of the obsession. So we are continuing to adjust his environment to try and address his behaviors or make the behaviors less risky to him and those around him.
Always continue to look for simple solutions you can do to adjust the environment for your child. This way you can keep your peace and know you are making a difference.
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